


1... 2... 3 Words

by burnpledis



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheolsoo, Hanahaki Disease, How does one tag..., Indulge me in Cheolsoo Angst, M/M, Slow Build, Unrequited Love, Wasn't planning for this to be multichapter, oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 04:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19310212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burnpledis/pseuds/burnpledis
Summary: The first time Seungcheol saw the flower petals, he thought nothing of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so like... This wasn't originally going to be multiple chapters... but it just... worked out that way...
> 
> Also lowkey this is being posted now because I told Georgia I would so uh. *finger guns*
> 
> This isn't Beta'd so I apologize if my writing is crappppppp

The first time Seungcheol saw the flower petals, he had thought nothing of it. It was late evening and everyone was slowly filing back into the dorms following a jacket shoot for their newest comeback.As he entered his dorm he noticed the small pile of blue petals lying on the living room floor, untouched and almost liked they had been dropped out of someone’s hand. He bent down to examine the small pile, picking a couple of them up before collecting the whole pile and moving to the trash can, mindlessly dropping them into the disposal bin. He only assumed they were left over props from one of the shoots that one of the members had accidentally brought home, or had finally managed to shake off their person within the comfort of their dorm. With a long yawn, Seungcheol began heading to his bedroom, noticing Wonwoo already crashed face down on his bed within their living room. As he continued his trek toward his room, and more importantly his bed, he could hear the faint sound of coughing coming from the bathroom.  For a brief moment, concerned flooded the leader, but shrugged it off, knowing that if it was something major or one of his members were getting sick, he would simply know about it in the morning. With another long yawn, Seungcheol vanished into his room, ready for sleep to take him, and flower petals from earlier already long gone from his mind.

 

The second time Seungcheol saw the flower petals, it was right after a fansigning. The group had said their final goodbyes before moving to make their way off the stage. Seungcheol found himself being the last off, considering he liked to make sure none of his members forgot anything during their exits, but also to appeal to Carats a couple more times before finally saying his goodbyes. He was making his way across the stage, his eyes tracking the ground when he noticed them. Right in between two seats (which members who were occupying them not coming to his mind) was a small pile of blue flower petals. He stared at the pile for a moment, trying to place in his mind where he had seen the petals before when it came to him. Confusion filled the leader as he moved past them, trying not to make a scene of his discovery. What were the same petals from their cover shoot doing at the fanmeeting? Did one of the fans give the members a flower bouquet. No that wouldn’t make sense as to why there was such a large pile of petal on the ground. Just as he made his way off the stage, he could hear the familiar sound of one of his members coughing. The same coughing that could be heard occasionally throughout the fanmeet. Concern for his members health quickly replaced all feelings of confusion about the petals, only hoping that one of the members wasn’t getting sick.

“Seungcheol hyung? Are you coming or do you really want us to just leave you behind?” Wonwoo’s voice snapped Seungcheol out of his thoughts, locking eyes with the younger rapper, who seemed to be the only remaining member in the venue, assuming all the rests had made their leave and were heading back to the dorms.

“Oh… yeah sorry. Let’s go, I’m getting hungry” Seungcheol smiled widely toward Wonwoo, before wrapping his arm happily around the younger and the two making their way toward the HipHop Unit’s car. Once again, the flower petals from the meeting long escaping his memory.

 

The third time Seungcheol saw the flower petals, he knew something was wrong. Seungcheol was typically a light sleeper, whether it be something he’s always had been, or something he developed after becoming an idol and a leader he would never be able to answer, but when the sound of violent coughing and choking could be heard coming from somewhere within the dorm, followed by the harsh closing of one of the doors, he found himself shooting awake and quickly making his way out of his room. He was only a few inches out of his room when he stepped on something soft and velvety. Quickly pulling his foot backwards, Seungcheol felt his eyes widen to discover the blue flower petals below his feet. Bending down, he knew for certain these were the same petals from the shoot and the fanmeeting. His eyes moved away from the petals, even though he found himself collecting some of them into his hand for examination once he was in the safety of his room. Most of the bedroom doors were closed, and if they weren’t closed they were slightly ajar to allow for better ventilation, meaning he wouldn't be able to tell who was coughing by just seeing whose room was open. It was then that he noticed the light seeping out of the bottom of the bathroom door. Slowly, the Seungcheol stood and quietly approached the bathroom door. Now in closer range, he could hear the sound of someone gagging and coughing much more clearly. He found himself hesitating for a brief moment before gently knocking his knuckles against the wood of the door.

“Hey… are you okay in there?” He kept the wording simple and vague, being he wasn’t entirely sure who was occupying the bathroom. The gagging stopped the moment he knocked on the door, but he could make out the soft sound of someone panting on the other side, like they were trying to catch their breath.

“I-I’m fine, Seungcheol… J-Just go back to sleep” A soft voice replied, catching the leader off guard, causing him to go stiff the moment he heard the voice on the other side. _Jisoo?_

“Are you sure? Do you need me to bring you water or anything?” Seungcheol found himself leaning closer to the door, almost wishing it wasn’t there so he could comfort the younger male, who clearly sounded to be in pain.The sound of a cough emanated from the bathroom, and a wave of familiarity washed over Seungcheol. It was the same cough he had heard the other two times he had seen the flower petals.

“N-No, no,It’s nothing. I just ate something that’s disagreeing with my stomach, go back to bed, I- I’ll be fine in the morning” Jisoo’s voice was scratchy, almost strained as he replied to the leader through the wooden door, his sentence getting interrupted occasionally by a cough or two.

Something inside Seungcheol told him not to believe the younger member, but he knew this was going to be something he couldn’t push. Exhaling softly, Seungcheol gaze shifted down slightly to the flower petals still sitting within his hand before turning his attention back to the very closed door, the silence coming from the bathroom almost frightening.

“Alright… but don’t hesitate to come to me if you need anything… alright?”

“I will. Goodnight Seungcheol, and I’m sorry for waking you.” Seungcheol took a step away from the bathroom door, the silence falling in between them again before slowly making his way back to his bedroom, hand clenched tightly around the flower petals he had removed to the hallway, eyes never fully leaving the bathroom door until he was in the security of his bedroom once again.

Seungcheol found himself standing within his room, leaning against his now closed bedroom door, listening intently to Jisoo’s coughing and occasional gagging, eyes never leaving the flower petals he was holding within his palm. The coughing went on for another five minutes before he could hear the sound of what he could only assume to be flushing  and Jisoo leaving the bathroom. The click of a door closing only confirmed that the younger had evacuated the bathroom and returned to his room, hopefully to go to sleep. Seungcheol simply released a soft exhale, finally removing his gaze from the petals in his palm, eyes instead shifting toward his laptop, which sat closed on his desk across the room. Moving across the dark room on nothing but poorly adjusted vision and muscle memory, the leader found his way to the laptop and waiting for it to come to life, shielding his vision from the blinding light of the now alive monitor for a moment. He finally released the flower petals from his grasp into a small pile next to his laptop as he quickly pulled up a search engine.

‘Coughing Up Flower Petals’. The words on the screen looked like they shouldn’t belong in a sentence together, and for all Seungcheol knows that’s probably the case. Just strange coincidences that would lead him to such a strange conclusion, and that would hopefully lead to a blank search result of nothing but works of fiction and fables. His finger hovered above the enter key for a moment before shaking his head, knowing that nothing was probably going to come up and just let the search run anyways.

The moment the page loads, Seungcheol finds his entire being go stiff as blood vacate his face, leaving him pale and frozen. He shook his head, praying it was just exhaustion playing tricks on him, but it still remained right there. _Hanahaki Disease._ His gaze fell onto the pile of blue, now taunting him with his presence. This was the first time Seungcheol realized he was scared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Seungcheol noticed Jisoo was getting worse...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh, I should have been asleep a long time ago but instead im posting this chapter so uhhh... Enjoy it. 
> 
> Also I don't know if I need to change the tags?? there's mention of blood in this chapter but its Hanahaki disease so uh... let me know if I should update my tags??

The first time Seungcheol noticed Jisoo was getting worse was before a music show.

The darkness of their dressing room and the soft sound of his member’s breathing tempted Seungcheol to fall into a similar lull of sleep. Just as sleep was about to take him, the sound of someone clearing their throat followed by gentle shuffling snapped Seungcheol out of whatever trance was about to take him away. He let his eyes open just to see the shuffling figure vacate their dressing room, the light from the hallway vanishing as quickly as it appeared, leaving the leader alone in darkness once again. He waited a moment to allow his eyes to readjust to the darkness before swiftly and silently making his way toward the door, trying his hardest not to disturb the sleeping members. With a few swift motions, Seungcheol slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him, only to be greeted by the now all to familiar sound of Jisoo’s coughing coming from down the hallway. Shifting his attention toward the noise, he quickly spotted Jisoo only a few feet away, hands cupped over his mouth and chest heaving with every consecutive cough. 

“Jisoo?” Seungcheol kept his voice soft, not wanting to scare the younger member. Jisoo physically flinched at the sound of Seungcheol’s voice, his hands closing tightly in on themselves, almost like they were holding something within them.  _ ‘Flower petals most probably’  _ Seungcheol’s mind supplied the thought before slowly approaching his fellow member, who had quickly moved his hands into his pockets.

“Seungcheol! I’m sorry… did I wake you?” Jisoo spoke with a certain level of shock, probably not expecting anyone to leave their dressing room and catch him. Seungcheol quickly shook his head, trying to give some comfort to Jisoo, whose hands remained buried deep within his pockets.  Worry lined the elder’s face as he noticed the younger’s fidgeting, his eyes instantly moving toward Jisoo’s, whose seemed to be anywhere else in the room but Seungcheol.

“Are you okay Jisoo? You’ve been coughing a whole lot lately and you’ve been a lot more fatigued during practices.” Nothing but concern was in the leaders voice as he watched the vocalist carefully. There was an almost unreadable expression of the younger’s face before he shook his head, a fake smile quickly coming to his lips, still refusing to look at Seungcheol.

“I’m fine, Seungcheol. I guess this comeback just got to my health a bit more than our other ones. I’ll try to get better I promise.” Seungcheol couldn’t stop the disappointment showing itself in his face knowing that Jisoo was lying to him. He hated that the younger felt the need to do so, especially with something so detrimental to his health. 

“Well, at least come back into the dressing room and try to get some sleep.” He thought the comment was innocent enough, but the way Jisoo’s face twisted into one of discomforts only made the leader’s concerned expression deepen.

“I-I don’t want to wake up any of the other members with my coughing. I’m fine just staying out here-”

“Jisoo.” Seungcheol’s tone was a lot more harsh than he was expecting as the younger flinched slightly. Exhaling softly, Seungcheol ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to push the other member away from him, especially when he knew Jisoo was hiding something from him. “I’m just worried about you Jisoo, you’re clearly not getting enough rest.” The harshness of his tone was quickly replaced with nothing but concern as he reached out toward Jisoo, only for the younger to step just barely out of the other’s reach.

“I’m fine Seungcheol. Let’s just head back into the dressing room.” Jisoo’s voice grew softer, almost like he was ashamed of something. Seungcheol remained where he was standing for a few moments before giving a soft nod, slowly turning his back toward Jisoo and heading back to their dressing room, keeping the younger in his peripheral the best he could so he knew the other was following him. That’s how he saw Jisoo stop quickly at one of the trash cans lining the hallway and quickly emptying his pockets. And just barely through the side of his eyes could he see Jisoo throwing away a whole blue rose, whose tips were covered in blood. 

  
  


The second time Seungcheol noticed Jisoo was getting worse, he wasn’t alone.

It was one of the rare days where they had no schedule planned for them, and most of the members had decided to spend their day off out of the dorm and just enjoying their time off. That’s how Seungcheol found himself sitting in the middle of the downstairs dorm with Jeonghan and Jisoo with a movie they have long ignored going on in the background. As much as days off were rare, a chance for the three eldest members to hang out without any of the younger members were even more rare, which is why the trio all agreed that staying in would be the best use of their day off. Jeonghan was mindlessly messing with Jisoo’s hair while laughing at the story Seungcheol had just told them.

“I swear, this is why we can’t leave Jihoon alone in the recording studio with Mingyu! I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t a repeat of pre-debut,” Jeonghan laughed as Jisoo tried to conceal his own laughter with his hand, while simultaneously swatting the older of the two member’s hands out of his hair. Jeonghan made a small pout at the action, opting to force Jisoo’s head off of his lap instead, which got an amused chuckle out of the oldest of the trio. 

“I’m pretty sure it was going to escalate to that if I hadn’t walked in when I did. But from what Hansol told me, it was going to happen a lot sooner if there was actually something not tacked to the floor Jihoon could have used.” Seungcheol quickly replied, gaining more laughs from his fellow ‘95 liners. The trio laughed at their younger members misery until Jisoo’s laughters soon transformed into coughs. Quickly, the american covered his mouth and stood up, abandoning his position on the floor that he had been so ungracefully thrown onto by Jeonghan and leaving the general living space faster than the other two could comment. The laughter quickly died down as they heard the bathroom door slam shut, leaving the two members staring down the hallway in silence.

“S-Should we go check on him?” Seungcheol asked hesitantly, glancing toward Jeonghan, whose face morphed into a far more serious expression than he was expecting, almost like it was a mix of annoyance and concern.

“No… let’s just wait for him to come back. Probably made him laugh so hard he was going to pee himself.” Chock it up to Seungcheol either being a good leader, or him just knowing his best friends well enough that he was able to tell Jeonghan was lying. The leader hardened his gaze on the vocalist, but it went unnoticed as Jeonghan’s gaze remained squarely down the hallway. The two sat in silence for a minute or two before Jeonghan shook his head, quickly jumping into his own story about the misadventures of the vocal unit. Seungcheol smiled half heartedly at the younger’s attempt to lighten the situation, even giving a couple genuine laughs at the mishaps of the infamous BooSeok combination, but his mind kept wandering back toward Jisoo who was still in the bathroom. 

A solid ten minutes had passed and they had heard nothing coming from down the hallway. Not the sound of coughing, or a toilet flushing, or the sound of a bathroom door opening. Seungcheol glanced down the hallway, hoping to see Jisoo reappear around the corner and break the tension, but it never came. Almost as if Jeonghan was reading his mind, the younger member stood up from his location on the sofa and slowly walked toward the bathroom, and knocking on the door a couple times. Seungcheol kept his gaze solely on Jeonghan until the vocalist was out of his gaze. He listened to the best of his ability, hoping he would hear something from Jisoo. After a minute of silence, Seungcheol’s eyes widened at the sound of what he would assume Jeonghan jiggling the door handle before hearing what he could only identify as the bathroom door being broken. Seungcheol was quickly on his feet and heading toward the bathroom when he got intercepted by Jeonghan. 

The two stared at one another, Jeonghan seeming to want to hold his ground in front of the leader, and the leader trying to fight his way past to see Jisoo. After a couple of beats, Jeonghan exhaled.

“There’s a car we’re able to use without the managers… right?” Jeonghan’s question threw Seungcheol off guard, confusion being knit into his expression before moving past Jeonghan and toward the bathroom. The moment he stepped foot into the Bathroom, he felt his heart drop. The door had indeed been broken open by Jeonghan ( and he knew he would have to explain at a later date to their manager why they needed a new bathroom door) to find Jisoo lying barely conscious on the floor, blue rose petals covered in blood on the floor around him and a whole rose within his hand, tips again tainted in blood like when Seungcheol saw it as the music show. Swallowing his fear he turned toward Jeonghan and gave a short nod, answering the youngers question before moving forward and quickly collecting the youngest of the trio in his arms. 

“I-I’m fine Cheol…” Jisoo’s voice was barely above a whisper before he began coughing again, flower petals spilling from his mouth. Seungcheol felt his heart tighten before quickly following behind Jeonghan.

The two remained silent in the car as they drove to the doctor, Seungcheol in the backseat, cradling a now passed out Jisoo in his lap while Jeonghan drove, his eyes occasionally glancing toward the duo in the back seat.

“You aren’t as surprised about this as I thought you would be Cheol,” Jeonghan’s voice broke the silence, snapping the older’s attention away from Jisoo for just a moment, the duo’s eyes meeting in the rearview mirror for a moment before Seungcheol returned his gaze to the resting Jisoo.

“I… sort of figured it out on my own. I wish he would have told me instead of hiding it,” Seungcheol admitted quietly, carding a hand through the American’s hair, watching him rest for the first time in who knows how long. “What about you. You clearly knew about this, or else you would have been shaken up.” Seungcheol returned his gaze to the rearview mirror, where once again, his gaze met Jeonghan’s before the vocalist broke it, returning his eyes to the road. 

“I… I was with Jisoo when he coughed up his first petal. I’ve been begging him to tell you. To tell all the members, but he didn’t want to worry anyone.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Seungcheol suddenly asks, his gaze now solely on Jeonghan. He wasn’t surprised Jeonghan had known, he knew Jisoo and Jeonghan were extremely close ever since pre-debut and the two trusted one another with their lives, but him knowing this long without saying anything?

“You know it’s not my place, especially when it’s something as personal as this.” Jeonghan’s tone was far more harsh than Seungcheol was expecting, but he knew Jeonghan was right. The two fell into silence again, listening only to the sound of Jisoo’s shallow breathing and the hum of the car.

“Do you know who?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you know who? Who’s the cause of Jisoo’s petals?” Seungcheol asked softly, his eyes returning to the youngest and hand mindlessly carding through the soft hair. There was a beat of silence, almost like Jeonghan was contemplating actually answering the question.

“I do.” The two words got a small nod out of the leader, not wanting to push anymore, knowing Jeonghan wasn’t going to tell him who it was. The two sat in silence the rest of the way to the hospital. The visit was short, the doctor telling the duo that the disease wasn’t irreversible at this point if Jisoo was willing to get the surgery, but it was getting alarmingly close to that stage. This was the second time Seungcheol realized he was scared.

  
  


The third time Seungcheol noticed Jisoo was getting worse, it wasn't even his discovery. 

The members were moving quickly around backstage, shaking out their pre-concert jitters and hyping themselves up for their performance. Seungcheol found himself standing in front of one of the mirror’s adjusting his microphone and adding a few touch-ups to his hair so he would look only his best. He spun around and quickly did a headcount of the members, knowing some of them liked to wander around backstage before their concert, but all knew to report back to the main dressing room 20 minutes before sound check. After only counting 11 members, Seungcheol found his eyebrows knitting together in concern, before recounting and getting the same headcount. He turned his attention to Jeonghan, who was seated only a few inches away from him, who had also done a headcount and gotten the same result. The two silently identified who was present before both tensing up upon the realization as to who was missing. The two oldest members shared a glance before Seungcheol cleared his throat, getting his members attention.

“Has anyone seen Jisoo?” He asked with a slight level of concern, trying his best to hide it from the younger members, who all began glancing around the dressing room, noticing that indeed, one of their hyungs had gone missing. 

“He told me he was running to the bathroom, I’ll go and get him!” Chan responded with a certain level of enthusiasm before quickly leaving the dressing room before Seungcheol or Jeonghan could stop him. Panic filled the two oldest members as they shared a glance, moving quickly to hopefully catch their youngest. The rest of the members quickly picked up on the panicked nature of the eldest, confusion lining their expressions before slowly following them. The group of now 11 began moving slowly down the winding hallways of backstage before the sound of a scream echoed through the hallways. Without missing a beat, Seungcheol and Jeonghan took off in a dead sprint, fear for the worst coursing through their entire beings, ignore the other members who quickly followed, trying to keep pace with Seungcheol and Jeonghan.

The duo slid into the bathroom to discover Chan hovering over Jisoo, shaking the unconscious male trying to wake him up. Jisoo laid on the ground, flower petals and blood in a small pool in front of his mouth with full flowers scattered around him, far more than Seungcheol had ever seen the younger cough up. Chan’s attention quickly snapped to Seungcheol and Jeonghan, the former crouching down next to the unconscious American while Jeonghan was yelling down the hallway toward Jihoon to get a manager. The rest of Seventeen began to appear, all freezing in shock at the sight of their hyung surrounded by flower petals and blood on the ground unresponsive. 

It took 13 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and another four minutes of arguing before their manager agreed to allow two members to accompany them to the hospital. Only two minutes later did the group agree on Seungcheol and Jeonghan, much to Chan’s worried protest.  The group said their small goodbyes before the trio were off to the hospital, their other managers already handling the media and explaining why their concert was having a two hour delay.

“The manager is telling the media and carat’s it's pneumonia.” Jeonghan whispers quietly to Seungcheol in the backseat as their manager trails behind the ambulance that carries their best friend. Mindlessly, Seungcheol grabs Jeonghan’s hand tightly and stares out the window, fear the only thing present within his entire being. This was the third time Seungcheol realized he was scared, and that only made his fear for Jisoo’s fate grow even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bug me on my Twitter and Send me Prompts of my curious cat, both are @soft_shua

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhhhh. Come Bug me on Twitter mah dudes @soft_shua


End file.
